‘Get Up Quickly And Get With It’

The first thing to emerge at a baby giraffe’s birth is its front hooves and head. Minutes later, the newborn is hurled from its mother’s body, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Within seconds, it rolls to an upright position with its legs tucked under its body.

From this position, it views the world for the first time and shakes off any remaining birthing fluid.

The mother giraffe lowers her head just long enough to take a quick look at her calf and then she does what seems to be a very unreasonable thing: she kicks her baby, sending it sprawling head over heels. If it doesn’t get up, she kicks it again and again until the calf finally stands on its wobbly legs.

And then, what does the mother giraffe do? She kicks it off its feet! Why? She wants it to remember how it got up.

In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd and avoid becoming a meal for lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs. The best way a mother giraffe has of ensuring that her calf lives is for her to teach it to ‘get up quickly and get with it’.

Don’t complain if you’re pushed into action by those who love you. They are doing you a favor!

There is nothing more that I enjoy doing than reading books and writing. I'm kind of a nerd like that, XD. I have been writing for 7 years and am the author of the YA novel "Winged: The Awakening" and "Winged: The Unraveling".